Credit Cards

[newpete]

Hello all,

I have been doing by best the past 6 months to have some old credit cards information updated but to no avail. It appears that since the original credit cards companies sold off/charged off the debt it can not be updated with a PIF status, even though I did pay off settlements amounts to the companies that they sold the debt to. Is there anythingI can do to improve this or get them to update my charged off status? My current FICO is 582.

Also I have the funds to open opened some secured credit cards and am planning to open three if possible and then begin to may minimum payments. I would like to avoid being charged any large fees, such as a charge to open, annual and monthly fess I have heard some of the credit card companies can charge. I do find paying a reasonable fee of say 50 or under. Please help if you can as it can be a bit overwhelming trying to make the correct choices.

sincerely,

Pete

[Walt_K]

What do you mean about updating your charged off status?  Paying the charge off will not change it from being charged off.  The fact that it was charged off will contiue to report.  Is it also reporting a balance?  If so, there may be something you can do about that, but I am not sure.  You should post this in the rebuilding forum and you'll get more detailed advice.

Bank of America has a good secured credit product.  I believe I've read that NFCU does as well, assuming you're eligible.

[newpete]

Thanks my friend, this is my first time using a site like this and hopefully it will be my last. I will do as you suggested and repost and look into the other. NFCU.

[webhopper]

Bank of America; wells Fargo; digital credit union; and capital one My advice would be to do two credit cards and a secured loan to rebuild with

[tempusfugit123]

I think you would be approved for a cap1 secured or wells fargo secured. At the time i was rebuilding i was never approved for bank of america. 

[newpete]

Thanks webhopper, i will take a look at your suggesstions.

[newpete]

Hi and thank you for shaing your info and suggesstions, I'll check them out.

[Wolf3]

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newpete wrote:

Hello all,

....

Also I have the funds to open opened some secured credit cards and am planning to open three if possible and then begin to may minimum payments. I would like to avoid being charged any large fees, such as a charge to open, annual and monthly fess I have heard some of the credit card companies can charge. I do find paying a reasonable fee of say 50 or under. Please help if you can as it can be a bit overwhelming trying to make the correct choices.

sincerely,

Pete

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I suggest 2 secured cards with bigger deposits is better than 3.   Capital One, USBank, BofA, CITI and most CU have secured cards with decent terms.

What do you mean pay the minimum payments?   You should be paying in full (PIF) every month on your secured cards, with rare exception.    If you plan to charge these up and pay interest, you are not ready to open CC.   A secured loan would make more sense in that case.

[newpete]

Hey,

I was told back in 2004 by a mortgage broker tha it I wanted to improve my credit I should get three cards Max them out or at least get some type of balance and then just pay the minimum bal, and that within a year my credit should improve. You are saying that I should do the opposite? Please advise if you can before I make a terrible mistake.

[Walt_K]

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newpete wrote:

Hey,

I was told back in 2004 by a mortgage broker tha it I wanted to improve my credit I should get three cards Max them out or at least get some type of balance and then just pay the minimum bal, and that within a year my credit should improve. You are saying that I should do the opposite? Please advise if you can before I make a terrible mistake.

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That is horrible advice.  You'd think otherwise, but mortgage brokers often have no idea how FICO scoring works.

Best score results are generally obtained by having one card report a balance that is 9% or less of that card's CL, and all other cards report $0.